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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Vatican City, 21 April 2015 (VIS) –
Yesterday afternoon Pope Francis sent a message to the Patriarch of
the Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church, His Holiness Abuna Matthias,
upon hearing of the slaughter of 28 Ethiopian Christians kidnapped in
Libya by the group ISIS.

“With great distress and sadness I
learn of the further shocking violence perpetrated against innocent
Christians in Libya. I know that Your Holiness is suffering deeply in
heart and mind at the sight of your faithful children being killed
for the sole reason that they are followers of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. I reach out to you in heartfelt spiritual solidarity to
assure you of my closeness in prayer at the continuing martyrdom
being so cruelly inflicted on Christians in Africa, the Middle East
and some parts of Asia.

It makes no difference whether the
victims are Catholic, Copt, Orthodox or Protestant. Their blood is
one and the same in their confession of Christ! The blood of our
Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be
heard by everyone who can still distinguish between good and evil.
All the more this cry must be heard by those who have the destiny of
peoples in their hands.

At this time we are filled with the
Easter joy of the disciples to whom the women had brought the news
that 'Christ has risen from the dead'. This year, that joy – which
never fades – is tinged with profound sorrow. Yet we know that the
life we live in God’s merciful love is stronger than the pain all
Christians feel, a pain shared by men and women of good will in all
religious traditions.

With heartfelt condolences I exchange
with Your Holiness the embrace of peace in Christ Our Lord”.

Vatican City, 21 April 2015 (VIS) –
This morning, in the Domus Sanctae Marthae and in the presence of
Pope Francis, the executive director of UNICEF, Anthony Lake, and the
deputy president of CONMEBOL signed two collaboration agreements in
favour of Scholas Occurrentes, the educational network supported by
the Holy Father.

UNICEF is the United Nations Children's
Fund, and CONMEBOL the South American Football Confederation. Scholas
Occurrentes is a the first worldwide initiative with the aim of
promoting integration and peace between peoples through education,
connecting more than 400,000 schools and educational networks, both
public and private and of all religions. The five-year collaboration
with UNICEF will be based on the broadening of access for young
children, especially the most disadvantaged, to technology, sport and
the arts – platforms for education, participation and the building
of peace, enabling the young to learn about themselves, others and
the world that surrounds them.

Scholas and UNICEF will initially
cooperate in a series of joint activities worldwide, with the special
aim of bringing an end to violence and promoting the connectedness of
all young people, making the most of the unique capacities of each
person to favour the participation of adolescents and to broaden
their access to the tools and information they need to be connected,
to communicate and to collaborate.

The two organisations will explore the
bonds between their respective platforms for mobilisation on social
networks and communication media, and will support both digital
campaigns and social movements in aid of the most disadvantaged
children. The specific collaboration projects include involvement in
the Scholas network in terms of content and opportunities for the
participation by young people in “The young express their own
opinion”, UNICEF's online space for adolescents and young people.
UNICEF will also adapt the U-Report for the Scholas global community,
which will enable its members to join the 500,000 or so young people
who already use the mobile-based platform to speak about their
interests and to participate.

The organisations will also develop new
opportunities for collaboration in relation to major events centred
on world youth, such as the Summit on the Social Impact of Youth, to
be held during the Summer Games of the Special Olympics in 2015 in
Los Angeles. In 2016, the association will begin to explore
initiatives at regional, national and community levels, including
campaigns to raise awareness and joint promotional activities linked
to issues affecting millions of disadvantaged adolescents.